Sandip Bhattacharya wrote:
> In the long run, the utility of all non-Free software approaches zero.

OK, my turn to cheese off the List Gods.

Sandip, this statement is quite sweeping in its scope.  "All non-free
software"?

Another point is that the writer seems to unclear on the difference between
"utility" and "marginal utility".  The "utility" of MT is non-zero,
obviously, as the writer was able to use it for a number of years, on 11
sites.  The "marginal utility" is now zero, for him.

But this is true of most goods.  The "marginal utility" of my Nissan Sunny
is zero now, but this was not a constraint to my buying the car 3 years ago.
It did not have a "zero utility" over its lifetime.  What I should consider,
when deciding, is the sum of "marginal utilities" over the remainder of its
lifetime.  At some point, this will drop to zero, but I will have "used" it
nevertheless, and benefitted.

And, to paraphrase Keynes, "In the long run, we are all dead".

--
Sanjeev

PS: Is Ajit Ranade still on the list?


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